Map wars: Shaffer goes after McNulty, accuses him of blowing stuff up

Senate President Brandon Shaffer[2] today ripped Speaker Frank McNulty[3], painting him as a control freak who has been “blowing up bipartisan projects.”

Shaffer, a Longmont Democrat, is known for being a cautious statesman, almost to the point of being beige, but not today when he went on the attack against McNulty, a Highlands Ranch Republican. At a news conference in his office, Shaffer said the Republicans who serve on the Joint Budget Committee and special redistricting[4] committee don’t even have the authority to deal.

“These people are agents of Frank McNulty[5], who go and negotiate and do the best they can,” Shaffer said. “As soon as they get a deal they take it back to the speaker, and Frank says ‘deals off, go back and negotiate some more’ It would be easier if Frank would just sit at the table and be part of the negotiations.”

“Brandon Shaffer got his hand caught in the cookie jar. It’s no wonder he’s so upset,” he said. “I understand the Senate president finds it difficult that there is a balance of power at the legislature these days, but his priorities are not our priorities.”

Democrats controlled the legislature for six years until Republicans in November gained a one-seat edge in the House.

Shaffer handed out a spread sheet concerning voter registration in Democratic maps and the Republican maps that were made public Friday. He pointed the Democrats drew much more competitive districts, while Republicans, especially the operative who drew McNulty’s maps, made strong Republican seats.

“The numbers do not lie,” Shaffer said, noting under McNulty’s proposals a Democrat could never win congressional districts, 4, 5 or 6.

Shaffer said after the Joint Budget Committee reached consensus on the budget, “Speaker McNulty injected himself and said this isn’t OK with me and blew up the budget.”

The same with redistricting, Shaffer said. Two of the Republican maps were from the committee co-chair, Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, while the other three maps later were drawn for McNulty by outside operatives.

“As as soon as they put the first drafts of maps on the table, Speaker McNulty interjects himself and blows the whole process up, making it an ultra partisan process,” Shaffer said.

“I think we’re seeing standard operating procedure on the Republican side here, which is to feign that they are going to work in a bipartisan way and and then blow bipartisan projects up as soon as they don’t get their way.